The picture of Jesus that most people get from St Luke's gospel is of a kind, considerate and gentle Master. Yet every so often St Luke reports Jesus saying something that seems to contradict that picture. Today's gospel has one such saying, and it might even seem scary. Jesus talked about how an unclean spirit who has left a person can come back again and make that person worse than he or she was before. Indeed it is a warning to us not to underestimate the wiles and the power of evil, and to be always on guard, watchful.

It is a warning, too, to be always careful to trust in God and His power, not in our own. It is easy enough to start thinking that our being 'good' comes from our own efforts. After all, we try carefully to obey the Lord's commandments and to follow His way as best we can. We also try to love our neighbour as best as we can. But we so easily forget that it is God's grace in us that does all these things.

People in Jesus' time were very conscious about demons and evil spirits, and today's world is not so much different. Yes, there is evil in our world and in human behaviour, and there is danger. But there is nothing to be afraid of in this. By ourselves we indeed could not stand up to it all, but in Jesus sin and Satan have been defeated. It is His power that works in us, along with us. For the Kingdom of God has come upon us in Jesus